At present, a nonaqueous equipment decontamination system (NAEDS) provides the U.S. Army with the capability to remove chemical agent contamination from electronics, avionics, and other items sensitive to conventional decontaminating solutions.
The present system of the art includes a chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) spray, which removes the chemical warfare agent (CWA) from the item of interest. The resulting CFC solvent containing the CWA agent is processed by mixing with sodium hypochlorite in a conventional mixer. The CFC solvent is then separated from the aqueous hypochlorite by decanting, and then by distilling off the solvent CFC.
The system now in use was developed for operation in a large facility or plant. Therefore, the size and weight of the system was never critical. However, due to the fact that the decontaminating equipment was too large, heavy, and energy intensive, it could not be easily adapted to a mobile unit for use in the field.